I'm A Book Shark

30-Day Book Challenge

 

Day 3 - Your favorite series

 

Series are my favorite. I love getting myself totally immersed in a group of characters and their world. When this question was asked, the first series that came to mind was Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid series. While I love many others (Stephanie Plum, Fever, Night Huntress, Body Movers, Kylie Ryans, Easy Bake Coven, and many more), this one has a very special place in my heart. What's your favorite?

 

Georgina Kincaid series

 

30-Day Book Challenge

 

Day 2 - A book that you've read more than 3 times

 

I think there might be only one book that would make this list. I'm really not a big fan of rereading books because there are so many out there that are new. I want to keep reading new stories! Sometimes I can read a book I've already read like I've never read it because my memory is so bad, and some books are actually worth rereading. So here is my book for this day's challenge. What's yours?

 

 

 

Pride and Prejudice review

 

 

30-Day Book Challenge

 

Day 1 - Best book you read last year

 

It's basically a tie. I absolutely adored both of these books. Right from the start, they both got me and sucked me in. I loved the characters and the stories. They both gave me all the feels. So great. If you haven't read either one, you probably should right now. I can't wait to read more from these two authors. Yay!

 

 

Something Like Normal Review

 

 

My Life Next Door Review

 

 

*The author provided me with a giveaway paperback copy. I couldn't help myself.*

You know what? Even though I looked at the book and knew exactly how it would turn out in the end, I really wanted to check it out anyway. How was this author going to make math sexy? I had to find out. And I'm pretty glad I did.

In the interest of being honest, I do have to say that I mostly skimmed this. I almost couldn't get past the poor proofreading job done on this book, but the story kept me interested. I felt compelled enough to keep going - hence the skimming. Some of the things I had issues are in the updates section of this review, but there were more. I kept wishing for a red pen. Either way, I did read the whole thing.

These characters had some issues. I like that Scarlett wasn't a virgin. She worked as the shy, academic type, but it wasn't too big of a deal when things started changing for her. It was a little strange, but the author explained it as best she good. Tucker was a great sleeping-around bad boy. His secrets were his reasons for acting the way he did. Caroline tried to do her best to protect her friend, but we all need to make our own mistakes, right?

Like I mentioned above, I knew exactly how the book would end. I'm sure you already know by reading this review or looking at the cover. But the story was definitely entertaining and intriguing enough for me to read it only a few short hours and enjoy it. I didn't want to put it down. I laughed and got upset and confused with the characters, and it was a pretty good time. It was sexy and emotional. I enjoyed the ride.

I'll definitely be reading the next one in this series. Yay!

3.5 stars

Holy cow. I wrote on TWO Post-it notes — front and back — about this book. Perhaps there was too much hype, but wow. This book was heartbreaking and irritating all rolled up into one. And I was absolutely and intensely interested during the first 75% of this book. After that — and after a few days in between — I was rolling my eyes instead. What happened? I'm not sure. Here are my notes:

-Some of the timeline was off. If you're going to make a point of the time for each chapter, then perhaps the timeline should be right. At the beginning she says it's almost 4 pm when she wakes up, but the beginning of the chapter said it was already 4:47.

-I really liked Six, and I was pretty disappointed she was leaving. She was a strong girl, and I enjoyed what she brought to the book.

-When she faints at the beginning, I knew the book was going to hurt. BAD. And yes, it's heartbreaking.

-I didn't exactly appreciate the vegan stereotyping in the novel. Eh.

-I felt like I could compare Holder to Edward for a while at the beginning there. He's all dangerous because no one bothered to ask what happened. Not sure how no one knew the real story though. Hmm.

-When Holder saw the bruise, less than 24 hours after meeting, he starts dictating who she can date. It makes sense later, but still. A-hole move there. Not cool.

-This book relied pretty heavily on similes and metaphors for movies and books. "It was like a Lifetime movie," etc.

-I was kind of worried they were brother and sister for a while there. I don't read book summaries so I wasn't sure what this was about or where it was really going. That's what I get. LOL

-I knew it was Les and Holder in the first 13 year flashback. Woo!

-I was also kind of worried that, at the mention of Holder's stepdad, he was Sky's actual dad. Overactive imagination!

-Sky makes a LOT of assumptions about Holder - how he feels, what he's thinking, what he knows, why he says and/or doesn't say stuff. It was kind of annoying.

-I don't like the phrase 'making love' for whatever reason. And they're teens. Who says that?

-After her father kills himself, I understand why she does what she does. But after that, they're all sexy with each other? Seriously? Ugh. Wasn't very real to me there.

-When she talks about how "when two become one, they share pain" or whatever...I was rolling my eyes. Hardcore. It was a little over the top for me.

-I was a little irate when Holder DEMANDED she get on birth control. I don't care if they have sex, but seriously!? Who demands that? Like the vegan thing, I take offense to this. Personally harmed by it, I don't think it's a good idea. And it was a TOTAL a-hole move. OMG.

-Did this book have an editor? I wrote down at least 10 different things I could HEAR while listening to the audio. Here are some:
-Lay is actually the past tense version of lie.
-Adverbs weren't always used right or consistently. Tightly became tighter with the same verb. And tightly was EVERYWHERE in this book. So was wrapped. Everyone was wrapping things around stuff all the time.
-Phrases were so out of order sometimes. "...picture on the dresser of my biological mother..." and "...chip out of my hand I was about to eat..." <--- Those may not be the exact quote, but you get the idea.<br/> -"...wouldn't have came here..." and "...had never came back..." Really? Yikes.

So there you have it. Those were my notes. The overall feel was intense at the beginning. The middle was good too. But the focus felt off. By the end I was just rolling my eyes and wishing it was shorter. I imagined this would be a really great book from Jodi Picoult, but I wasn't all that impressed with this one. I thought it was a lot of heartbreak, and Holder was not exactly ideal. I loved him at the beginning because that's the fun part of a relationship. After that, I got mad at him and his issues, and Sky was okay with it all, assuming away. I have the book from Dean's POV, so we'll see.

You know what? I *really* liked this one. I wasn't thrilled at first with the narrator, but I ended up enjoying his voice throughout. This book reads very much like a TV show or movie. It's entertaining, funny, and slightly sexy. I enjoyed it a lot. Here are my notes:

-The focus of the book seemed a little fuzzy until the middle there. I get that a lot of this had to be some background, and looking back I feel like it all worked out okay. But I did write that down because the first half of this book is about finding Nick and then a bit of her life after finding him.

-Apparently the editor is unfamiliar with the subjunctive mood.

-I wasn't quite sure why they needed the laptop in the end. My friend explained it to me, saying that the bank info was on his laptop. I guess that makes sense. Hmm.

-Derek hadn't spent ANY of that money they recovered? I get that he was on an island and really couldn't spend it on much, but it didn't make sense to me.

All in all, I liked Kate and Nick and the whole crew. Kate is tough but sensitive. Nick thinks of everything. Together, they're fun and smart. I hope there's more to them, but with JE, it's hard to tell. ;o)

It was so fun! It's like Oceans 11 in a way. They're a rag-tag team, and it's a pretty good time. There were a couple typical Janet Evanovich funny moments, and I enjoyed those. It was an entertaining ride the whole time. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series! I hope the rest of the crew comes back for the next book.

I definitely enjoyed this one, and I think I'll do a dream cast post for this one on the blog. My friend Pam will also come up with hers. It'll be fun!

This one was pretty entertaining. It kept me guessing until the end, and I love Charley and Reyes. HOT as always. That part is definitely delivered. And then there's the end. OH MY. *seals lips*

Here are my notes on the book:

-Many verb tenses sounded like they should have been past perfect but weren't. This could have been me not hearing the words while listening, but I don't think that was the case every time. It happened pretty often.

-There were a lot of instances of 'that' when they could have been removed. I'd apologize for all the editing parts of reviews, but that's my job. It's hard for me to not notice. And this book SOUNDED like it was poorly edited. Bah.

-I haven't read this anywhere, and perhaps it's old news. Maybe it's not even real, but I have a feeling that Nicolette may get her own story. I think she may be a spin-off subject. I hope she shows back up again because we didn't get any resolution there.

Overall, I liked this one. This isn't my favorite series ever, but Charley always makes me laugh out loud all the time, and I love Lorelei King's narration. Reyes is HOT, Cookie is a fun friend, and UB has some fantastic moments as well. I giggled, almost cried, and totally GASPED at that ending!!

4.5 stars - I received an ARC on NetGalley.

Ouch. Oh my goodness, ouch. This book absolutely ripped me open (but luckily it put me back together again). I really enjoyed [b:Ten Tiny Breaths|15990969|Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths, #1)|K.A. Tucker|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1374387219s/15990969.jpg|21747190], and it gave me a lot of the same feelings. This one, however, reawakened a lot of feelings I had about reading that I'd forgotten. Boy oh boy.

I really haven't been reading a lot. In fact, the only time I read (the written word, not audio books) is when I'm editing. Lately, I've been very bad with time management, so reading for fun hasn't happened. I had a bit of time before bed the other night so I scrolled through my Amazon Kindle app and found this one. I adore everything KA Tucker writes, and I remember loving TTB. From the beginning, I knew I was going to love Livie and her story, but I knew it was going to be tough.

It was tough all right. And quite honestly, it was particularly hard because Livie reminded me so much of myself. She strives to be perfect, to live a life she thinks she needs to for other people. For much of my life, I was the same way. I'm just finally starting to live for myself. And this book is Livie's journey to do just that.

It's up and down, and she makes mistakes, hard choices, and wrong turns. She gets hurt and hurts others. It's not easy, but Livie's story was *just* what I needed right now. It reminded me why I love to read. Livie's story, which I hope will continue to be told (along with the rest of the gang) in FSTL, made me feel SO many emotions that I haven't felt in a while. I felt happy, sad, vulnerable, in love for the first time, scared, worried, hopeful, messed up, embarrassed, angry, and blissful. I couldn't breathe, I felt like I was drowning, and I was also head over heels, all with Livie.

At first I absolutely loathed Ashton. Connor seemed like the perfect guy. Then everything gets all screwy and I barely knew up from down. Basically, Livie's story is one most girls and women want to live. I won't say too much more than that, but I can pretty much guarantee you'll get sucked into this one like I did. :o)

There was one continuity issue where Livie is surprised by Ashton's use of her real name instead of her nickname, Irish. She says he's never used it before, but he had earlier in the book. Oh well. :o)

This was an ARC, so I can't comment on the editing. But this is another reason why I don't read a lot of books anymore. I can't get past all that. Either way, I probably missed a few things while I read this because I was trying to read fast enough to ignore the editing while catching the story. I do remember that Dr. Stayner is absolutely hilarious and awesome. And I loved this book. <3

Perhaps I'm over the dystopian genre. Maybe I'm in need of more adult reads too. This one just didn't really do it for me. It was entertaining enough, and I was seriously shocked by the world Ember lives in. The whole Moral Statutes were tough to swallow. But other than that, I felt like there was a lot of luck that got them through. Here's my list of things I observed while listening to this book:

-Many of the verb tenses were wrong or just weird. This book is first person and past tense. Ember would start to recall a memory seemingly out of nowhere in this audio version (perhaps the print version makes it more clear). If the book had been written in present tense, this wouldn't have been so jarring. It's not just my preference for present tense, I swear.

-"Laid" was used as the past tense of "lie." "I" was used when it should have been "me." And I think I heard an instance of "tighter" when it should have been "more tightly" but I could be wrong. I can't read my handwriting.

-Umm, the people at the rehab center didn't realize she was trying to escape??? She was wearing LOTS of clothes and had a bag full of food and supplies. Please. And then seriously? Chase didn't realize she was trying to run away from him when she left the truck?? He's not stupid. He was in the military. How ridiculous. Also, that scene with Alice's mom was creepy as hell. WOW.

Thus ends my notes. I guess I had lots to say about the technical stuff. I shouldn't HEAR errors in a novel. A misplaced comma is one thing, but I can actually hear the wrong grammar. It's sad.

About the actual story: the main issues are in that spoiler area above. Like I said before, the whole idea of the Moral Statutes was scary as hell. The whole reason why she goes to the original rehab center freaks me out. I can see something like that happening here someday. Aside from that, I guess I'd like to see how this works out. It doesn't end with a cliffhanger, so if I don't pick up the next one, it won't bother me that much.

This one was entertaining, a little predictable, and kind of gross. I wrote a lot of notes and left them at work, but I do remember a few things. So here's a list with the good and bad in no particular order.

-Urine yellow? REALLY? Who does that?
-Quite a few verb tenses were incorrect. This book was written in present tense, but it used past perfect when it wasn't needed. Past tense would have actually been appropriate.
-Many phrases were overused, such as 'so effin' sexy/hot.' It was annoying.
-The end does make me want to check out the next book in the series!
-I got really tired of Olivia coming up with reasons and excuses that weren't even valid. She'd say that Nash was a really good guy, but really good guys do NOT hit on and almost sleep with other girls when they have girlfriends. Period. He wasn't a good guy, and he wasn't trying to do the right thing. UGH.
-That MAJOR thing she's confused about in the middle? Yeah. OH MY GOD. I would HOPE that has never actually happened. I'm sure it has, but thank goodness I've never questioned anything remotely close to that. GOOD GRIEF, people.

That basically sums up how I felt about the book. I called the main twist fairly early on. Olivia irritated me sometimes, and I didn't feel like the alternating POVs really helped for some reason. I listened to the audio, and I didn't like the guy's narration, so maybe that's why. Either way, I was definitely entertained. And like I mentioned, a little grossed out. Some of the sexier things in this book creeped me out a little bit. I won't mention what in the review to keep it clean, but seriously. Am I that far removed from steamy romance that I was actually grossed out more than once? Hmm.

Anyway, I'll probably try out the next one. Or something from her other series. :o)

4.5 stars

Received this audio book from S&S Audio for review.

Holy wow. I knew from the beginning that this book could be a 5-star book. It takes a LOT to get 5 stars from me, and this book was so very close. It's raw, real, and full of emotion. This book captured me from the beginning, and I didn't want to stop listening. Nastia and Josh are broken, but they find each other. It's a great story.

This book took me by surprise. I had no idea what it was about before I picked it up. I like things that way. I'd been told to read it, and I'm so glad I did. It had a few problems, like it's kind of long and it drags out a bit. But my goodness, I absolutely adored the ending. Really only the last two words. And that's all I'm saying. Wowee wow wow wow.

Listened to the whole audio book in one day. It kept me interested in enough, but there were plenty of convenient moments and eye rolls. Lindsay was a little crazy in this one. The baby really changed her, and most of the book was about her with the baby and then the other side characters. AND THE ENDING. Pretty much just WTF to that. Bah.

Edited the new version. :o)

So.. I was pretty disappointed. I thought this was lame and convenient. The steam obviously left this series long ago, and it dragged out WAY too long. I was happy to see Sookie with who she ended up with, but that wasn't a whole lot of closure. Perhaps I was looking for more friendly terms, but I guess this ending is more like life. Either way, I'm just glad it's over. Ayeee.

Loved it! Shelley is just as dirty and snarky, Renee is the voice of reason while still being a woman, and Marc is so level-headed. Ethan is still around, thank goodness, and Ashley is a sad basket case in this one, but it's all so entertaining. I laughed out loud a bunch of times and read this in just a few hours because I couldn't put it down. Lisa Becker doesn't disappoint!!

I'm having a hard time reconciling this book review with the one I wrote about its predecessor. I hated almost everyone in that book. I was so annoyed with everyone's stupid decisions and lack of respect for themselves and others. But hearing this from Travis's perspective shifted things for me. I still hated Abby, but I didn't hate Travis as much. I felt for him a bit. He still was out of control, but it made more sense sometimes. Abby just.. meh.

Either way, I liked this book a whole lot more than Beautiful Disaster. I didn't want to turn it off all the time like I did with that one. So if you couldn't stand BD like me, then perhaps you should try to give this one a chance. PLUS, the epilogue was really satisfying to me. I actually enjoyed it a lot.